


Curse

by AvidReader3019



Series: Prompt-Tober 2020 [1]
Category: Gravity Falls, Over the Garden Wall (Cartoon & Comics)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Urban Fantasy, Dragons, Kitsune, Sorcerers, Vampires
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-07
Updated: 2020-10-07
Packaged: 2021-03-08 03:46:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,483
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26869150
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AvidReader3019/pseuds/AvidReader3019
Summary: Supernatural Creature AU Wirt is really bad at being a vampire, Mabel is just the most helpful ball of sunshine, and Dipper is uh what the hell is Dipper?
Series: Prompt-Tober 2020 [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1961812
Comments: 9
Kudos: 8
Collections: Over The Gravity Falls





	Curse

**Author's Note:**

> Okay so I forgot this existed for a bit and I wanna finish it now, but I had to go back and fill in some blanks and change some things so here's the edited version it's a bit longer I think?

He shouldn’t have come. This is so stupid. See,  _ this  _ is why you don’t accept invitations to parties from strangers. “Get out there,” They said, “make some new friends,” They said. Nevermind that the one connection between everyone here is that they’re some sort of cursed killing machine.  _ Why would that be a problem? _ “Wirt come on, you have to quit acting like all social situations are going to kill you.” If only they knew…

The worst part is: he can’t even claim that the inherent terror is why it sucks. Everyone has been relatively nice, no maiming allowed, no sort of violence, but everyone seems to know each other and be friends and he doesn’t know anyone, so he might as well have just stayed home instead of standing in the middle of some random field at night.

See, he’d been uh  _ different  _ for about a month now. One night he’d been strolling through the woods one night. Yeah, admittedly, not the best plan, but bills had to be paid and nature is very inspirational, especially at night, and deadlines were approaching and can anyone claim to be in their right mind when there are deadlines looming over them?

He had been walking a clear route when he saw a shadow off the trail, so he investigated it like an  _ insane person _ , once again, a deadline does not a cautious man make, and he didn’t see anything until there was a flash of color and he felt a pain in his neck. He woke up the next morning to being burned to a crisp and scrambled into a nearby overhang/cave thing. Vampire wasn’t exactly his first, second, third, or millionth life choice, but he’s been able to cope so far, kind of.

The major help being the supernatural market that he swore didn’t exist prior to that horrible night. A whole lifetime of nothing, and then he gets murdered and the next night bam! a market for all your horrific needs. The whole  _ oh no how will I figure out what happened to me and kill people to survive? _ Not a problem when you stumble into a hole in the wall and some very bubbly being walks up like a rainbow tornado and then proceeds to drag you to get tested and fixed up. 

It wasn’t as weird as it sounds. Well, it was exactly as weird as it sounds, but not anything uh terrifying or anything. He just-- she sorta dragged him into a clinic-looking place rambling about “oh! It’s so exciting to have new people-- Are you okay? What am I talking about? You must be okay if you’re here, right?” She winked as Wirt struggled to keep up. There’s this wonderful dragon and she’s the only one who can tell what you’ve been turned into just by looking at you-- Well, no wait, my brother can too, but he’s busy most of the time and doesn't like looking into people’s auras like that, something about ‘seeing too much’ so we usually ask Emily to do it since she’s used to it. It’s fine I promise! Just standard procedure and all. Don’t worry and then after that I can help!” She paused and fixed him with the most serious look she’d had so far. “That’s okay right? You if you wanna keep it secret you can, but do you even know what you are? Do you want to know?” 

Wirt nodded and then realized that didn’t answer most of the questions. “Oh Yes that’s uh that’s fine I’m not I mean I have my suspicions but uh it I just woke up this morning and uh.” He rubbed at the burn marks on his arms, covered now by a sweater he’d grabbed while he awaited nightfall. “Yeah it was unpleasant and I suppose being prepared would be a good idea.” He continued in a smaller voice. “I need all the help I can get, what’s your name by the way I think we forgot introductions...”

“Oh! You’re right I’m Mabel, your local sorcerer.” She extended a hand which he took gratefully; this is normal, this feels normal he breathed a little lighter for the first time that day. 

“Wirt.” 

She smiled and dragged him into another room with some person, who he quickly realized was probably Emily, who looked him over chewing loudly on gum, said “ehhhh vampire?” and then walked away. After that Mabel showed him around a bit, mostly focusing on the blood bank they opened. Tons of people donate and they’re properly informed of the intent and then they can buy blood from there and no one has to get hurt at all. An ingenious system really and when he commented on it she brightened and gave him a bone crushing (well, not anymore) hug. She bid him farewell that evening and he left feeling a lot less helpless and lost then he had that morning.

Since then, he’d been going to the place every time his thoughts began to be overtaken by anger, not anything supernaturally inclined like the bloodlust in vampire movies, just an average ‘I haven’t eaten all day and the next person who cuts me off in traffic is going to get run over; consequences be damned’ type emotion. Making the market incredibly convenient, really, but he’d still never met anyone who worked there after Mabel having kept to himself and gotten in and out as quickly as he could, trying to adapt to the new sleep schedule and the fact that he has to be really careful about regulating how he opens doors. He’d broken one while not paying attention and made a mental note to be more cautious, not wanting to test how much damage he could do if he tried.

Anyways, he’d fixed the whole blood problem (which felt easier to call grocery shopping than buying blood to sustain his shambling corpse) and after a couple weeks decided to explore a bit. The way the area is organized there are several shops scattered about and once he stopped staring only at the ground and hurrying in and out, one caught his eye. It’s a bit smaller than the others near it, with soft blue curtains in the windows and books propped up in front of them. A quick check of the sign confirmed that the place was indeed a bookstore, and he’d never been able to resist one of those, so he went inside.

The first thing he noticed was the ceiling. The building had appeared fully wooden and closed off from the outside, but the  _ ceiling  _ is nearly all glass offering a stunning view of the stars. He found himself wondering if there had always been  _ that many _ and his hands itched for a pencil to note his musings _. _ It was incredible to behold, like the light pollution disappeared to leave a clear view of the heavens, a swirling vortex of glittering movement right above him. 

It took what felt like several hours to tear his gaze away, but once he did the rest of the shop came into focus. It’s just as small as it seemed on the outside with shelves stacked near on top of one another to fit as many books in the place as possible. They’re worn and curving under the weight of all the collection present which he assumed to be composed almost entirely of ancient, dusty tomes until he looked a little closer. Everything one could possibly think of seemed to somehow be contained in the small space. Books on science, history, philosophy, arts, poetry, music, languages, magicks, legends, etc. More than that even, little antiques were scattered amongst the walls and shelves between and around the books. 

He was sure his jaw was hanging open and didn’t even care in the presence of such an awe-inspiring sight. He began to pace the shelves, flipping through many of the books, but kept seeing some sort of  _ flickering  _ beyond the edges of his vision. 

Any time he gasped at anything or took another second to pause and take it all in he would’ve sworn he heard a faint laugh that reminded him of something difficult to describe, something abstract and incomprehensible.

It seemed to be composed of many octaves and layers all at once, like the sort of music that is created during a particularly coordinated rainstorm. A mixture of thunder, raindrops, wind, all paired with the exhilarating flashes of lightning. That’s the best he could describe it, and even that would be a disservice to its true nature. 

The sound sent a thrill down his spine in both fear and delight, but he wouldn't be able to tell you which feeling was stronger. He ignored it for the most part, placing it in the back of his mind until he’d seen most of the shop he went to leave, finding a flier taped to the door advertising a party the next week, a get together for “monsters” in the community to actually sit down and feel less unnatural or scary for a day. Wirt decided feeling less like a terror in comparison to the other terrors he apparently seems to live rather close to seemed like a good idea, so now here he is at a dumb party hiding in the corner as always.

The free ‘definitely-not-fruit-punch’ as it was so aptly described on the side of the bowl was nearly worth the pain, but then the microphone is tapped and he recognizes the rainbow swirl from weeks ago. He hasn’t known or spoken to her for long, but could tell enough from that little interaction to know it makes sense she’d put this together. He’s not trying to be a jerk, but this is just a bit much. There’s so many people and he’s so so  _ so _ aware that he’s the youngest and least powerful here and that one thing looks like it could kill him with their pinky finger alone-- 

A loud voice interrupts his spiraling thoughts, “Welcome all beings to the first monthly party of the weird community!” She grabs a fist-sized confetti cannon from  _ somewhere  _ and pops it for dramatic effect. “This is a fun way for everyone to make friends with others who understand. For other people to feel less like they’re cursed and more like they’ve been given a fun opportunity.” 

He snorts into his drink and mumbles “Cursed is what this gathering is.” He didn’t expect anyone to hear him. Not over the speech coming over the speakers and the fact that he’d spoken so quietly. He  _ especially  _ doesn’t expect that ethereal laughter from the bookstore, coming from a few feet to his left. His mind flashes with images of violent storms and he can nearly smell ozone in the air as the stranger approaches while continuing to laugh. Wirt is too stunned for a second to even remember to breathe, but luckily the newcomer seems to not be bothered and they extend a hand once they calm down enough.

“Sorry, I normally wouldn’t eavesdrop, but that was hilarious.” They point with finger guns briefly and Wirt is hit with a sense of reassurance at the uncomfortably awkward gesture. “You’re new, right?”

He finally has the presence of mind now to take their hand and respond. It’s a bit strained since as he makes contact with their skin he feels a buzzing, similar to sticking his hand in an electrical socket. “Isn’t everyone new? This being the  _ first _ meeting and all.”

Another smile and he notes the fangs this time. Even having a pair of his own, seeing them on someone else is still startling. “Sure, but you’re like  _ new, _ new. To the supernatural, I mean.”

Wirt raises a brow. “What gave me away? The cynicism?”

They laugh again. “Oh no, nothing like that. I remember you stumbling in my store a week ago.”

“I don’t know if stumble is the right-”

“Oh  _ please,  _ the only creature making that much noise is not only new but typically a vampire since they’re a lot more common to just pop up out of nowhere since there’s so little regard for the rules and systems in place concerning inducting someone into the supernatural community” They pause and a note of sadness enters their voice. “Well, that or you’re cursed by some sort of magic-user, that’s still fairly common as well...”

Wirt frowns, finding his drink suddenly  _ very _ interesting. “I’d definitely say I’m cursed, but your first assessment is also true.”

The response is strangely quick. “No, you’re not.”

Wirt shifts uncomfortably. “What do you mean? Being killed and turned into a moving corpse seems pretty cursed to me.”

The no-longer-a-stranger frowns. “You don’t have to regularly hurt anyone to survive do you?”

“Well no, but if I hadn’t found the market-”

They cut him off. “That’s my point. That’s the whole point of me and my sister’s experiment.” They extend a finger to point to Mabel and Wirt vaguely remembers her mentioning a brother… “We started this so people would feel better about being something they can’t control.” There’s a long silence as he considers whether to continue, then a sigh. “Look, man, I know how you feel. I know that waking up being something decidedly  _ not human  _ is hard to adjust to, but it’s far from the worst thing that can happen. Plus, you’ve got a whole support system here. If you need anything you’ve got a line of people who know exactly what you’re going through, who want to help, who’ve been there before not too long ago… Well except for the older ones or people who were born into this, but as someone who spent the first year in bed feeling sorry for myself, I’ll be the first to offer assistance.”

He stops for a second to consider before nodding. “Thank you for the kind words, and the offer. I apologize for being such a jerk.”

“No problem. Look, I totally get it it’s hard and dude you’re only a month in and you left the house? That takes a lot of strength if you’ve never even heard of any of this stuff, plus you survived my sister’s introduction and still came, takes a special kind of person to make it through that whirlwind.” He smiles with a deep fondness before fixing Wirt with an intense look. “If you need me you know where to find me.” He winks and starts to walk away.

Wirt rushes forward noting in the back of his mind that even his increased speed he’s had since turning doesn’t seem to help him catch up. “Wait, I don’t even know your name!”

He turns and Wirt’s breath catches as his eyes flicker to orange. He flashes his fangs in a grin and in less than a second his entire body is wrapped up in tendrils of lightning, and he’s gone.


End file.
